Empty the Bench

Miles Austin may have saved the Dallas Cowboys season. Until Sunday, the fourth-year wideout from Monmouth was living rather anonymously as a bottom-feeder on the team’s underwhelming WR depth chart. Last season was his most productive season to date, when he caught 13 passes for 278 yards and 3 TDs in 12 games. Austin nearly equaled that in 4 1/2 quarters of play against the Kansas City Chiefs, catching 10 balls for 250 yards and 2 TDs, an impressive haul that included a 60-yard score in overtime in which he broke a weak sideline tackle and scampered into the endzone from about midfield.

Don’t expect him to ever do this again. We’re five weeks into the season: bye weeks are kicking in, people are getting impatient with disappointing fantasy players, and everybody is scouring waivers looking for a diamond in the rough. Somebody is going to claim Austin in your league if he’s available; should it be you? Eh. Given the situation in Dallas, where Roy Williams is proving he’s not a legitimate WR1 and Patrick Crayton has (again) failed to distinguish himself, Austin definitely has the potential to build off this performance and get more and more looks from Romo. Just don’t expect the world, and don’t forget that he only had 5 catches for 81 yards and a TD through four weeks.

This isn’t that indifferent than what happened last week after Mohamed Massaquoi’s breakout performance for the Browns. Even before Braylon Edwards was traded, Massaquoi was snapped up in most 10-team or more leagues and probably started as a WR3 against Buffalo. Not so good: 1 catch for 16 yards. There’s a decent chance Austin could post a similarly disappointing line when he takes the field in 2 weeks against the Atlanta Falcons. Wait for him to show a little consistency before deeming him a near-weekly WR3 play: right now he’s still a plug-in play in my book.

Long-term fantasy potential aside, good for Austin. For three years now we’ve heard rumblings about his potential and that the team wanted to get him more involved the offense, but for whatever reason it just hasn’t happened. Now he finds himself the toast of the town, at least for a week. Meanwhile, the pressure mounts on Roy Williams, the $45 million dollar man who’s just not looked very good so far and sat out Sunday’s 26-20 win with a rib injury.

- A few of the many quaterbacks I’d start at quaterback over JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft: Tarvaris Jackson, Daunte Culpepper, David Carr, Josh Johnson, Kyle Boller, Derek Anderson.

- We had Atlanta Falcons WR Roddy White somewhat aggressively ranked 8 of 43 WR fantasy plays this week, a position which one ETB reader was curious about given White’s slow start and what looked like a tough matchup on the road against a normally solid San Francisco 49ers defense. Hat tip to Andrew for getting out the ol’ ETB magic ball and nailing it with his explanation behind the rank:

Rowdy Roddy has been disappointing thus far, but one month of football is not enough to change my opinion of the man’s skills or role in this offense. It’s not an Eddie Royal situation here where he’s being phased out of the passing attack, he still has the same role in the offense that allowed him to be so productive last year and his QB is improved from last season.

The acquisition of Tony Gonzalez has had a more significant impact on White than most anticipated, but I still think Roddy’s an elite talent who will get his. Matt Ryan throws an accurate deep ball and White has the ability to go get it consistently. The 49ers pass defense has been good, but not quite elite and there have been open seams up the middle, which is exactly where Roddy can thrive and make big things happen after the catch.

If the slump continues we’ll have to keep bumping him down the rankings, but right now you have to continue to roll with your second-round pick for the same reasons you drafted him. Not that much has changed. Early-season slumps can always seem more dramatic than they are. Don’t overreact.

White caught 6 passes for 185 yards and 2 TDs in the first half, finishing with 8 for 210 in the Falcons’ 45-10 drubbing of the ‘Niners.

Derek Anderson revisited, Troy Polamalu’s value, and more after the break…

- Last week I recommended Derek Anderson as a decent plug-in fantasy play for those in need of a QB because of a bye. Thanks for making me look smart, buddy: 2-17 for 23 yards, 1 INT, and -1.70 fantasy points. Yep, he’ll be finding his way back to the waiver wire first thing Monday morning. Despite Anderson’s stinkbomb, the Browns still managed to win what might go down as the ugliest, most unwatchable game of the season, a mindnumbing 6-3 win over the bumbling Buffalo Bills.

- I also dared Kellen Winslow (and, indirectly, his QB Josh Johnson) to outperform his Week 5 TE rank (16th of 20 TEs ranked). He did. On the road in Philadelphia with the unproven Johnson behind center, this was a bad situation on paper for Winslow and the Bucs. But, while the Eagles took care of business on the scoreboard, 33-14, Winslow exceeded all expectations by scoring both Bucs touchdowns and totaling 9 catches for 102 yards. He’d caught just 5 passes for 35 yards combined in his previous two games.

- I know he’s still a name brand, but Larry Johnson has no business on fantasy rosters. Drop him and don’t look back. He’s done. I wouldn’t even feel comfortable starting him as a bye week plug-in. Through five games, the ex-fantasy stud has 93 carries for 226 yards and 0 TDs. That 2.4 YPC is just depressing.

- Somebody get Steven Jackson off the shipwreck that is the St. Louis Rams. They did exceed their 6 points per average on Sunday in “running up” 10 points on the Vikings in their 38-10 loss, but that touchdown was a meaningless, late-game pity score. Until the Rams field a semi-respectable offensive line, with a semi-respectable quaterback running the team and throwing to a semi-respectable cadre of weapons, Jackson’s fantasy value has a pretty low ceiling.

- Troy Polamalu is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most valuable player and is sorely missed. That secondary doesn’t scare anybody when he’s not on the field, and the defense as a whole goes from good to just average. They’ve now given up 71 points in the last 3 weeks, including 20 on Sunday against a Detroit Lions team playing without Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson, who left early with a leg injury and didn’t return. The Steelers D came up big when it counted by sacking Daunte Culpepper a few times on the Lions’ last-ditch comeback drive, but the Lions still amassed 335 total yards in their 28-20 loss.

The Steelers have absolutely no chance of repeating as Super Bowl champs if Polamalu doesn’t stay healthy once he returns. On a side note, I think it’s time to start worrying about Megatron’s fantasy value this season.